| Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Little Book of Modern Verse. 1917. |
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| 105. Love Knocks at the Door |
| | | By John Hall Wheelock |
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| IN the pain, in the loneliness of love, | |
| To the heart of my sweet I fled. | |
| I knocked at the door of her living heart, | |
| “Let in—let in—” I said. | |
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| “What seek you here?” the voices cried, | 5 |
| “You seeker among the dead”— | |
| “Herself I seek, herself I seek, | |
| Let in—let in!” I said. | |
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| They opened the door of her living heart, | |
| But the core thereof was dead. | 10 |
| They opened the core of her living heart— | |
| A worm at the core there fed. | |
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| “Where is my sweet, where is my sweet?” | |
| “She is gone away, she is fled. | |
| Long years ago she fled away, | 15 |
| She will never return,” they said. | |
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